It's a story that ran on all the major gaming sites, I'm sure yoshida has been tweeted a billion times on it. For something that can be rectified with a simple one word answer over social media, it's done more than enough harm already.

Maybe I'm just too excited at the prospect of the delay to be impartial about it, but I think their silence is saying a lot right now.

The online-centric PS4 racing game Drive Club has been delayed to 2014, Sony has confirmed.

The project, underway at UK based MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios, was originally scheduled for release as one of fifteen PS4 launch games in November. But both the full game and the free PS Plus edition will not available this year, instead scheduled for "early 2014".

Drive Club's delay is the second major blow to Sony's launch plans, with the news emerging three days after Ubisoft revealed it has delayed its highly anticipated launch game Watch Dogs to 2014.

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida confirmed the rumoured set-back in a statement published on the official PlayStation Blog. He said the title "will be a truly innovative, socially connected racing game, but the team requires more time in order to deliver on their vision - and I'm fully confident the game will surpass your expectations".

He clarified that a free version PS Plus edition of the title will be available when the full game is released. At the PS4's launch, however, the replacement for the free DriveClub will be the platform game Contrast.

"If you're not aware of Contrast, it will whisk you away to a surreal vaudevillian, film-noir inspired reality full of performance, intrigue, shadow-play and drama," Yoshida said.

Good to have the official word finally. DriveClub wasn't high on my list but I know there are gonna be some disappointed folks out there. Having Resogun as a Plus freebie in NA is fair enough recompense, but yeah that needs clarification.

I had just checked out Contrast the other day, really dug into some gameplay vids and came away impressed. The art style and the "hook" of the gameplay look very interesting. Should soften the blow of a delay a bit.

Yeah, I was wondering about the Resogun thing as well. I wonder if there is a misunderstanding there. It's weird cause for weeks I thought that we (us in the USA) were getting both Resogun and the PS+ version of DriveClub, and I only found out recently that Resogun was actually only for Europe (in terms of being a free PS+ game). Now, we hear about the delay for DriveClub, and then they say that we are getting Contrast, and also, of course, Resogun. When I heard that, I was like... "wait a minute.. I thought Resogun was only for Europe? "

So, I'd love to see some clarification on this, because I think it's a pretty huge factor as to whether we are getting Resogun or not. If we are, then I think getting the two games is enough to make up for DriveClub, but if we aren't, then I think getting the one game is a pretty harsh pill to swallow. No disrespect intended to Contrast, cause I honestly don't know diddly about it.

As TyrantII said above, the president of PlayStation game development made it clear on the official U.S. blog: PS+ members are now getting both Contrast and Resogun for free.

Quote:

For the PS4 launch, in addition to Resogun, I’m pleased to announce that Contrast, the highly anticipated game from Compulsion Games will also be available to PlayStation Plus members for free as part of Instant Game Collection.

They are also throwing in free-play of KZ:SF's multiplayer for the weekend after Christmas to gamers who don't pick it up before then.

Was DriveClub going to have local split-screen? The Motorstorm games always have and they've always been a big hit with my son's friends when they come over because of that. I like being able to race against my kids too, nothing like bonding time.

Good question, I don't think I've seen it mentioned. Sadly the days of split-screen are coming to a end with the advent of MP, COOP, and gamertags.... Some really good games this gen supported that, but most never got the support they'd need to revive the implementation.

I'll save you the bandwidth, but as always ES looks to be putting their time to good use. New lighting model and AA are really shining. Something tells me the detailed tracks are going to give a much better impression of speed that hasn't been achieved before.

Plus members will get a plus version with a good amount of content, and getting the full game will just be a upgrade cost (so basically full game is a discounted). They haven't detailed the differences yet.